Categories: uncategorized
Date: 21 April 2007 08:41:55
Over on The Cartoon Blog Dave has picked up a story about UCCF parting company with Spring Harvest and Word Alive changing into New Word Alive Week .
The catalyst according to Adrian Warnock is apparently the ongoing "Chalke issue" and debate around the whole penal substitution thing. However, if one looks at it and some of the chief characters involved we can see that it is about far more than that, it's about whether contemporary evangelicalism in this country should be conservative or progressive.
It seems that the shifts in evangelicalism that have occurred over recent years (in both directions) have reached the point where there is such a gulf they have lost sight of the common goal (being part of one church which is living for God in a Christ centred biblical way) and have instead decided to engaged in a power struggle for the doctrinal position of the next generation of evangelical leaders.
One is tempted to wonder how far these divisions have been imported from the US, (where evangelicalism is clearly divided into the 2 types) and how far it is homegrown. The reason I say this is because in addition to the "Chalke issue" there are clearly other issues involved here - (including the place of women in leadership and issues around the how the church should treat homosexuals, and the place of wider social justice issues). Some of these debates (such as the place of women in leadership) are areas where tensions have, on one level or another, always tended to exist within the UK, but where people have looked past their differences and worked together as church, respecting difference whilst working together to promote the gospel.
As somebody who is part of the evangelical community I find this development worrying. My main reasons are:
1. In an increasingly secularised world helping people connect with God does not occur through internal splits, but rather increased unity whilst respecting difference.
2. It is a sign of the increased confidence of the "conservatives" that they feel it is now viable to split from Spring Harvest and I actually think they could become far more dominant through this. The role of UCCF in developing young leaders should not be underestimated (UCCF is almost a rite of passage for those of us going to uni from evangelical churches).
3. It will mean that young people particularly will have to choose between events and be less likely to be exposed to different doctrinal ideas and teaching from those they are used to (whether progressive or conservative) and so be less equipped to think through the issues from a range of angles, realising there are a range of legitimate evangelical opinions on things.
4. From looking at the new Word Alive site and the already confirmed speakers one does worry about the role of certain denominations in promoting this for their own ends.
5. The flow down from this is likely to be simplified stereotyping of the alternative view, which is not helpful and will not help the "bum on the pew" work through the issues involved in an intelligent way to decide what they think. They will be likely to find themselves fed one or other position and take it passively in.